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The Eclectic Pen - Stuck on Summertime

By: Jesse M. (CertainTINV)  
Date Submitted: 8/13/2008
Genre: Literature & Fiction » Short Stories & Anthologies
Words: 533
Rating:

The midnight train at North Station is never late. It’s never dirty or graffitied. It never needs repairs. It’s always perfect. Always full of the same perfect people. It’s never anything new. Or at least it wasn’t. Up until that night it had always been full of the same, boring, ignorant people. Up until that night it was neat and tidy, civil. It was proud of it’s reputation. Nothing changed, and it didn’t seem like it was going to. Until you. You changed everything. From the second you were thrown off the train, successfully startling every one of the station’s occupants, to the moment you wandered drunkenly into town, we all knew you were going to be different. We all knew things were going to be different. Decatur was a shithole. Point blank. I wondered why anyone would ever want to come here. Back then I didn’t realize that you didn’t have a choice. Nine months in a juvenile detention facility, or 48 days community service in a neighboring town. You never told anyone what you did. We all knew you were trouble from the moment you stepped off the train, but that didn’t stop me from offering to show you around town. I was the resident outcast, and I had to make sure the high and mighty town council didn’t try to convert you. Of course, back then I didn’t recognize that glint in your eye when you were coming up with a plan, but I knew something was going to happen, and I only hoped that you would include me. When you came to Decatur, I had no way of knowing that you would be the one to save me from going insane. You would save me from the everyday monotony that had been consuming my life from day one. We had more than just a simple friendship. We were like puzzle pieces, made to fit together, and deep down, I knew it from the moment you offered me that last cigarette. I never did get that lighter back. The first time we kissed was nothing special, I barely remember it actually, we were drunk out of our minds. I do know that I woke up smiling. After that night we couldn’t stand being apart for more than a few minutes. It was only a matter of a simple DUI and I got to work with you every day. I remember the night I made you promise not to leave without saying goodbye. I couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing you again. You took a train out in the morning before I woke up, and I thought I was going to die. Eventually, I realized that life had to go on, no matter how much I missed you. That’s why you treated me like you did, you were preparing me for growing up, preparing me for life. Every year after that, I met you at the train station when the summer began, and I feigned sleep on your last morning in Decatur. Six years. Six short summers that would last a lifetime… Part of me knew you had died the moment it happened, but I can’t accept that. I can’t accept the fact that I’ll never see you again. So I’ll keep going to the station on the first day of summer. I’ll keep waiting.

The Eclectic Pen » All Stories by Jesse M. (CertainTINV)

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